"We've finally arrived at this place." Eric smiled while looking at the buildings in the city.
"Yes. We can finally meet with Big Brother again." Erica nodded. "It's time for us to repay him for everything he has done."
"Agreed. But did you remember what that old lady… ahem, I mean, big sister Milfa said?" Eric asked.
"About this place becoming a city that no one has ever seen before?"
"Yeah."
"I'm not sure, but I think we'll be able to see it tomorrow. Anyway, let's sleep. The sooner we sleep, the faster the time passes. We can definitely meet Big Brother tomorrow. I hope."
As they were trying to return to their rooms, they suddenly heard a creaking sound coming from the door.
"!!!" Both Erica and Eric immediately looked at each other and sneakily moved around to find out who was actually bothering them.
But the moment they saw the figure standing at the entrance, they couldn't help but tear up and jump straight to him while screaming. "Big Brother!"
"W-woah? Easy, easy!" Noel chuckled while maintaining his balance as these two almost knocked him over. It had been a while since he had met them. In fact, it had been a few years since they first met. Noel still remembered how small they were. To think that their height was already around his chest. In just one or two more years, they might be as tall as him.
"Big Brother. I miss you!" Erica buried her face in Noel's stomach, sobbing.
"I miss you guys too." Noel patted Erica's head while turning to Eric. "Have you protected everyone, Eric?"
"Y-yes! I will definitely protect everyone." Eric furiously nodded.
It seemed that the kids had heard the commotion as well and immediately rushed to the entrance where they could meet Noel.
It was surprising that Eric and Erica had become Spirit Practitioners while the rest of the kids were in the Spirit Apprentice Stage. They must have worked extremely hard.
"I'm glad that you are all here." Noel smiled. It seemed that it would be a long night for Noel.
…
The next day.
"Raise your hand if you have experience in masonry," Aerton asked out loud. After finding a lot of people raising their hands, Aerton pointed to the side. "Those who raise their hands may go that way. There will be another person briefing you about your work. But I can say this for sure.
"You will be paid fairly. And because the city hasn't been completed yet, we'll provide all the food and water you need while paying you. So, work hard if you wish to become a citizen of this city."
The soldiers cooperated with Dimitri in assigning the tasks to the new people. Each division would get a few hundred people at once, so it was kind of hard to assign all of them at once.
However, once it was completed, the construction speed would increase drastically.
…
Roel's workshop.
"Alright, you guys. I have only two rules here. First, we're working for the lord, so if I see you doing something that might harm the lord, I won't hesitate to punish you. Second, if you wish to learn the runes instead of the Spirit Enchantment, show me that I can trust you. Of course, you have to remain in this city for a few years. That's the lord's condition to avoid you releasing new technology outside."
Roel was glaring at the blacksmiths, who had just arrived. He knew that the main reason for them to come was the rune. And Noel didn't mind teaching them the runes, since he wanted to spread the runes to all kingdoms eventually.
However, this was their biggest advantage currently, so he had to play a bit more reservedly until the city was fully developed.
Roel would be taking care of the rune for now, but once he promoted a few people, the production of rune technology would increase.
"Alright. For now, I'm going to demonstrate a few items that will be crucial for both rune technologies and our current construction." Roel smiled as a few disciples brought a few tools into the workshop.
…
Soldier Barrack.
Howard was examining the former mercenary leader who came to this place. His body was as muscular as Howard's, albeit he was slightly shorter.
"So, you are Genez, a former captain of the Leuvan Mercenary Group?"
"It is I." Genez nodded with a solemn expression.
"Why do you come here?"
"It's because I want to beat those Supreme Devil Organization bastards. My mercenary group was annihilated by them. And when I realized that you were targeted by those people, I thought about joining you so that I could fight them. Even if I have to serve a lord in my lifetime, as long as I can kill those pigs, then so be it."
Howard couldn't help but squint his eyes. On the one hand, their goal was aligned. On the other hand, he didn't like the fact that his lord was in second position in his eyes.
"As a fighter, I could see that you are strong. However, as a retainer, I can't say that you're going to make a good subordinate." Howard raised two fingers and continued, "Instead of talking about your loyalty, which I can't determine right now. It's better I state these two facts."
Genez didn't have any change of expression, knowing that Howard wouldn't like him. But it didn't matter as long as he could avenge his group.
"First, the lord is aiming to eradicate the entire organization. Second, you will become my subordinate. In other words, the lord will make a decision he thinks is best in that situation even if it means not killing those members right away. If you disobey the lord or your hatred takes over, I will not hesitate to cut you down immediately. Do you understand?"
Howard wanted him to know the end goal. And there was a chance that Genez couldn't kill those people and had to bury his hatred for a while before he could achieve his revenge. If he couldn't agree to this, he would be executed.
Genez clenched his fists. "If I truly can't control my anger, you are free to cut me or whatever you need to do. As long as I can see those bastards perish, even if I have to kill myself, I will do it."
"Alright. I, Howard, welcome you to the Ardagan Family Garrison."
…
Ardagan Family's Main Office.
"Oh my, this is going to be troublesome." Harley looked at the pile of paper on the table. "Why do I need to help you when I'm in charge of our information network, Balott?"
"You are the most experienced in handling money because of your establishment. I'm currently short staffed to take care of all these funds." Balott sighed. "Why don't you help me since you're free?"
"Come on. I'm busy establishing my own brothel here. There are a lot of people, so I'm sure that they are going to be tired and stressed." Harley shook his head.
"If you're not going to help me, you're going to open your own coffer from this point onward."
"You always threaten me like this." Harley let out a long sigh. "Fine. I will help you, but only after everything settles down. You have to do the rest by yourself."
"I know. I'm going to recruit some more people later."
…
In another building, Livia and Tristan were drawing a rune on the table. It was then that Sandra entered the room, bringing them tea. "Please have some rest."
"Oh! Sandra." Tristan smiled. "Thank you for doing this all the time…"
"You have been sitting here for a long time. Aren't you curious about the new people we get?"
"I do, but Master is working extremely hard, so I should do the same. The more I improve my rune ability, the more he will rely on me. Besides, I want to learn more about Rune Enchantment, Rune Engineering, Rune Body, and Rune Spell so that I can help Master." Tristan smiled. "Sorry, just for a bit more."
"Fine. You are useless without me. I'm going to drag you when I deem that you're too tired."
"Hehe."
When Sandra left, Livia couldn't help but tease, "What a cute girlfriend you have."
Tristan's body shook as he looked away, embarrassed. "Don't tease me."
Livia chuckled. "By the way, Tristan. Are you planning to teach at the Rune Academy?"
"Hmm? I'm not sure. I'm thinking about assisting Master, but if Master wants me to teach there, I don't mind. It's just that I heard that the Rune Academy will be filled with a lot of nobles. I'm just afraid that my status is too low for it."
"You always have low self-esteem. In fact, your talent in rune is better than mine. If you get more Spiritual Energy to use, I believe that your achievement will be more extraordinary than that of a lot of nobles. I just hope that you can regard yourself a bit more without forgetting about your humility."
"Thank you."
…
Noel's house.
Just like the others, Noel was also meeting the people, specifically his talented people.
There were three people who needed to meet him. The first one was Douglas's acquaintance.
"You are Alan, right?"
"Yes, Sir."
Noel took out the blueprints of the water system and asked, "What do you think about this?"
"This is…" Alan took a look at the blueprints in amusement. But it didn't take too long for him to notice something was missing in the blueprints. "Where is the number? What is the height of this one? What is the length of this rod? But…"
Despite missing the number, he was mesmerized with the concept and asked, "Are you planning to build this, Sir?"
"Something like that. Do you think it's possible?"
"We have to measure the pipe's size to make it work and adjust the height of the storage while watching out for the water pressure. But if you can actually get a constant supply of water constantly, then yes. It's possible."
Noel smiled. "What if I allow you to work on that project?"
"What? Me?!" Alan widened his eyes in shock. Although he had heard from his friend that there were a bunch of interesting projects, he didn't think that Noel would be this kind to grant him one immediately. "I-I would be delighted."
Noel could see that Alan's affection only increased slightly. He stood up and extended his hand. "I don't expect you to be loyal to me. However, I have long heard about your ambition and desire to create something that doesn't exist. In that case, lend me your hand in building this city. I will show you a city that has never existed before."
"I-I am honored." Alan hurriedly shook Noel's hand, still feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"Ask the soldier to bring you to Douglas and Roel to ask about the details. They should have a copy of blueprints for our projects, so ask them which one you should work for."
"Yes." Alan nodded furiously. He didn't know what to say anymore since he had just arrived and received such a huge task.
After Alan, Noel brought in the two Spirit Magicians. He confirmed their strength to be at Spirit Master.
According to Anna, he would have a Spirit Magician at grandmaster level in the future. Considering there were two Spirit Magicians at master level before him, he thought that one of them might become one of the grandmasters in his city.
The first Spirit Magician was a middle-aged man. Despite his thin frame, his gaze was calm and felt like it was filled with wisdom.
The second Spirit Magician was a woman in her mid twenties. It was amazing that she managed to reach that level at that age. However, there was one thing that piqued his interest. Even though the Spirit Magician loved to wear robes, this was the first time he saw a Spirit Magician wearing an oversized robe as though she were trying to hide something.
"You both come from the Tower Association, right? In that case, I'd like to hear the reason why you came here."
